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If you’re under thirty and a fan of hip hop it’s probably hard to remember a time when Lil Wayne was not present in the music industry. Diehard followers will recall the rapper’s rise from a child with a dream, to a teen on MTV, to a young man no one could stop, and news from a new interview seems to say we’ll soon see that man hang up his crown atop the rap game.

Speaking with MTV recently, Wayne sent shivers through his fanbase worldwide with the following quote:

I know y’all want me around for a little bit, and Carter V is my last album. Man, I’ve been rapping since I was 8 years old. I’m 30 now, man. That’s a long time, man.

While the idea of Wayne’s departure will likely hit many as a shock, it’s been clear from a critical standpoint that his artistic desires have journeyed away from the game in recent years. September’s Dedication 4 was hailed as a return-to-form for Wayne, but I dare you to find anyone still blasting it on the regular two months later. The fire has begun to fade and Wayne recognizes this. He even hinted at this in the same interview, stating:

“I signed my contract at 11, I went platinum at 14. I’m 30 now. Thank God I haven’t put out an album that hasn’t went platinum. To just keep it going like that, I think not only am I being greedy, I’m fooling myself to think that it will continue to be that great.”

As it stands, Wayne is set to release I Am Not A Human Being Part 2 on February 18. Carter V does not currently have a release date, but it wouldn’t surprise us if the record hit shelves before this time next year. Until then, we’ll have to wait and see if Wayne sticks to his retirement plans. If anything changes, we’ll let you know.

There’s been bad blood brewing between Wayne and Pusha T for years. The first sign of beef between the two rappers seems to extend all the way back to 2006 when the Clipse was still a going concern. MissInfo.tv has a great rundown of how the beef developed; Pusha takes some subliminal (read: perceived) jabs at Wayne in the video and in the verses for the track “Mr. Me Too.”

From there, Wayne and Pusha exchange shots through radio interviews and in soundbites. This round of the squabble came to a head with a contentious interview from Lil Wayne in Complex Magazine. Fortunately, things had become relatively calm since then. In 2011, Pusha T actually congratulated Wayne on his recent release from incarceration on his Fear Of God mixtape:

So all word of drama between the two rappers was squashed… until “Exodus 23:1” dropped.

There’s definitely something going on between Wayne and Pusha, but whether they’ll be able to work through this most recent animus is anyone’s guess. So how have the rest of G.O.O.D. Music and YMCMB reacted? Are guns being drawn? Well, not really.

So, is there really a beef between the two labels? In that same interview, Maine denied any discord between the two groups. Indeed, G.O.O.D. Music member Big Sean is featured on Lil Wayne’s most recent single “My Homies Still.” Sean himself dismissed perceptions of contention between G.O.O.D. and YMCMB. G.O.O.D. boss Kanye West has made mention of the beef (he’s too busy playing “N***as in Paris” 11 times in a row at Watch The Throne shows). In fact, the only other G.O.O.D. music member to make reference to the beef was Kid Cudi. And his tweet in response to the growing rabble around Pusha T didn’t really cast any aspersions. The Cudder just wanted to know that he has his homie’s back.

What’s the deal then with the YMCMB/G.O.O.D. Music fight? In hindsight, it seems that brewing battle between G.O.O.D. Music and YMCMB is little more than media-generated hoopla. As for Pusha T and Lil Wayne’s continued bickering, Andy Milonakis put it best.

G.O.O.D. Music. YMCMB. What do they have in common? Well, they’re both high profile hip-hop collectives, their names are both comprised of acronyms, and, as of a few days ago, they’ve got beef with each other.

The catalyst for the antagonism between the two camps is “Exodus 23:1,” a new track released by rapper Pusha T. “Exodus” is reportedly a taste of Pusha’s upcoming solo record set for release later this year. The track is certainly a diss track – the song opens up with talk of beef “best served like steak/well done” – though it fails to call out any potential target(s) by name. Whoever the object of Pusha’s anger might be, Lil Wayne took offense. The YMCMB rapper voiced his opinion about Pusha T in a tweet shortly after the song appeared online.

It’s been a busy few weeks for the Young Money crew, with Weezy‘s arrest rumors, Nicki‘s GRAMMY performance and, now, Tyga‘s album recall.

Tyga’s Careless World: Rise of The Last King was scheduled to hit stores on February 21, but was pulled off the shelves due to copyright infringement. It seems Tyga used an uncleared sampling of a speech by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the intro to his album, which caused the King estate to demand the recall.

Best Buy and Amazon were the first retailers to send out recall notices to fans who preordered the album, simply stating the album could not be sold. According to the Rack City rapper, he learned of the hold up through Twitpics sent from fans that found recall notes on store shelves where the album should have been. Despite the seriousness of the recall, he seemed to downplay the issue during a radio interview with V 103’s Greg Street, saying:(more…)